Shogo and his two Mommies
by Verthril
Summary: Confessions have a way of catching up to one, especially those truly meant deep down in the heart. With Shogo sleeping, Mommy Jubilee and Auntie M are faced with the fallout of such a confession. Just three little words once said to reassure, but only all the years later the question arises of who they were really meant to console.
1. Chapter 1

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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"He always wakes up about two-ish to go potty, but he's a big boy with big boy pants so you just have to make sure he flushes, otherwise it's way groady in the morning. Then I usually give him a glass of milk and tell him a story about his Unca Wolvie."

"Jubilation..."

Finding herself hugged, Jubilee looked up to a woman she had a history with, the real Monet St. Croix. Sometimes she had to remind herself that their history had started with apples and Gateway, not snide and superior remarks...and maybe just a bit of tree climbing.

"I thought you were used to me running my mouth by now?" Jubilee asked with a choked laugh, clenching her eyes shut tight and feeling a delicate touch brush away her tears.

A kiss to her brow, her nose, and her lips reassured her. Shogo would be safe, Auntie M was there to watch over him. Monet was a light sleeper, super fast, super strong, and nearly indestructible. It didn't hurt that she was a gorgeous telepath, as if they made any other kind, even the Professor...rest his soul...had his charms. And of course Monet was probably reading her every thought as she tried to think of anything she had forgotten, told to be true in her smile as she held her close.

"Why did you wait so long...?" Jubilee asked in a whisper as she let herself be held.

Monet had always been the tall sleek beauty, the one who towered over her and made her feel like a child in more ways than one. Now it felt nice to be the petite one out of the pair, to let herself be held and coddled and made to feel safe.

"Might I remind you that I did tell you back when you still carried about a diaper bag, long before Shogo earned his big boy pants?" Monet said with a haughty sniff, even as she trailed a finger down her lovers cheek.

"Well excuse me for thinking you meant Sis love, not I want to be Shogo's other Mommy love." Jubilee snorted, clenching her eyes tight against her own insecurities.

"Maybe I just needed a bit more time to admit that to myself." Monet whispered, her own eyes held tightly shut out of a fear of foolish tears.

"Oh fudge, oh fudge, oh fudge! I'm so late!" Jubilee cursed, the kind of swear words that she had taught herself to be safe around her son.

"Then hurry along love." Monet chuckled, more of a titter really as she turned her Jubilation away and sent her on with a slap to her pert bottom.

"Okay I'm not sure if that's possibly spousal abuse or a pass, we'll talk about this in the morning!" Jubilee muttered with one last look over her shoulder.

"Is that a proposal?" Monet asked with one manicured brow arching in near perfect symmetry.

"The lewd kind." Jubilee said with waggled brows, her laughter carrying as she took to the night as she was now a creature of.

To everyone who said you couldn't choose your family hadn't been born to the lives they lead. Only after she lost her did Monet realize she had another sister, one born out of all their shared circumstance. Again and again and again she was nearly taken from her, by Bastion, by the Scarlet Witch, and by Xarus. Somewhere along the way those feelings had turned into something less sisterly, becoming a deeper love that hurt all the more when they were apart.

Just maybe when Shogo woke to go potty and find his glass of milk she would tell him some stories his mother hadn't told him, maybe some of the embarrassing stories she had of his mommy dearest back when she had been just a girl herself. Settling down for a nights rest with only a wall between her and a sweet little boy, it might well be as parchment to her if any monsters came from the closet or skulked out from under his bed.

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	2. Chapter 2

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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"Iron Man! Iron Man!"

"Yeah buddy, you're Iron Man."

Walking around the costume racks, Jubilee smiled down to her little man giggling and laughing out of how happy he was to be Iron Man for Halloween.

"And what do you want Big Sissy Kymera to be?" Jubilee asked, crouching down and snatching up her eager little toddler.

"Jasmine!"

Settling her son on her shoulders, she wandered up to the time lost lady that had grown up calling Shogo her best friend.

"Now I understand why we watched Aladdin for movie night." Kymera groaned with a theatrical sigh, though a smile tugged at her lips as she looked down at the bright future she had fought to see realized.

Jubilee was shameless as she grinned up to the once future daughter of Ororo, now part of her family as her little man's big sister. Time travel was something she had grown up with, from Cable to Bishop and Rachel Summers herself. Welcoming Kymera into her family was the everyday and magical all at once.

"Okay, lets go check out the adult racks for Sissy and Auntie M, then we'll see what I can't fit into."

It was only a week ago that Monet had confessed that just maybe she wanted to change their relationship, right around the time Jubilee would go patrol NYC with all the night owls and her fellow do good creatures out to go thump some bad guys in the night.

"Sorry Auntie, put down the Snow White, Sissy K is filling our Princess quota."

"And here I thought you could play a wicked queen tempting me with apples?" Monet teased, putting the costume back and browsing all the others.

"Pfft, please. You hate housework, totally unrealistic casting. Besides, wouldn't you want me to be the one waking you up with a kiss?"

Halloween was to be their first real date, testing the waters and seeing where they ended up. Big Sissy Kymera would be playing babysitter for Shogo once all the trick or treating was all finished.

"Then what would you suggest Jubilation?" Monet inquired, too many tacky costumes to choose from.

"Thor!" Shogo gleefully shouted at the top of his little lungs.

Humouring one of her favourite little troublemakers, Monet wandered around until she found the costume.

"Why do I think this had Sexy somewhere in the name until recently?" Monet asked, holding up the questionable costume.

"Well we got Iron Man, Thor, who do you want Mommy to be Shogo?"

"Widow!"

"Aw, but Mommy already wears a catsuit to work." Jubilee whined.

"Widow!" Shogo grumped, he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Great, now I gotta find a wig." Jubilee muttered, blowing out a weary breath but smiling as she heard her son's laughter.

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"Who knew Natasha was my size?"

"I find it amazing that I still can't believe you actually called her to borrow that."

"Borrow nothing, she's not getting this back. It's not like the ones at the store would have fit me anyways. And oh my god, did you see how happy Shogo was when she stopped by with Tony to drop it off?!"

"I was in the room Jubilation."

"I'm the coolest mommy ever, I got Iron Man on speed dial."

Grinning at Monet from under her faux red tresses, Jubilee watched her little Iron Man and his big Sissy go play tricks for treats at the next door.

"Yes, and now I have to cancel our reservation after you accepted their invitation to his charity dance."

"Don't, just pay it forward. There's a couple that looks like they could use a night out."

Living in a world where people had to learn to shield their thoughts, Monet eavesdropped on the couple as if they had been caught talking to themselves. Wondering just how Jubilee had known they could use a treat after taking a nephew trick or treating, Monet left that for some small talk that would surely be needed during all the mingling to be had at Tony's party.

"If you'll excuse me." Monet said in parting, crossing traffic in a break to give away her previous dinner plans.

Giggling at the sight of Sylvester carrying Shogo's bag of candy, Jubilee met her little man and snatched him up for kisses. Kymera had been caught for another picture with a pint sized Aladdin, and looking at the lady who reminded her so much of Ororo, she wondered about her past that was their future and if they ever had gone trick or treating.

"Oh you're just a big ol' puddy tat ain't ya." Jubilee chuckled, taking the pillow case from the big cat to give him some appreciated petting and scratches behind his ear.

"Tweety!" Shogo cried, pointing up to his big Sissy's hawk companion perched atop a building.

If there was one thing a predator knew, it was its own kind, and looking up into the sharp eyes of the hawk whose name she couldn't ever hope to pronounce, Jubilee saw the hunt in them. The hunt was life and death perched upon a precipice, the fine line between a full belly and starvation. Tweety screeched in warning, flapping her wings ready to take flight.

Time moved slow or all to fast, she could never decide which it was as it happened, people become statues as her eyes wandered over the crowd. Out of them all one moved as fast as she, dressed as a Goddess of Thunder for the evening, and in her wake the storm came. Lightning flashed in the headlights of a car that came to a jerking stop.

"Dillon!"

The boy had a name and a mother, and Monet held him in her arms as safe as could be now that he was out of harms way. Letting him go off on his unsteady legs to be gathered up by his mom, Monet saw him look on his hero before he started to cry.

"Thor!" A child yelled at the top of her lungs.

Swarmed by her adoring crowd, children and their parents alike, Monet looked through them all for her own touchstone just to keep her sanity against the maddening tide pulling at her. All she could see in that moment was Shogo, instinct overriding every bit of her formidable intellect just to save him. It shouldn't have mattered at all, but deep down inside she wondered how shaken she would have been if it had been Shogo wandering out into the street, put into peril because she had let him slip from her gaze for just that one second.

It was a prop, a toy that a thousand other children carried that night, but throwing it up into the sky, her hammer was Mjolnir right down to the burden of worth it demanded if it was to be wielded in the God of Thunder's name. Flying off by her own might, Monet felt unworthy of all their praise, she was just a charlatan dressed in a cheap store bought costume after all.

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"Where's Shogo?"

"With his Sissy, but all he's talking about is being a hero like his Auntie M."

Letting herself be hugged, Monet shook with a grief she had forgotten she was capable of, her life had never been the fairytale it should have been. Grimm was her story, fit for the very gods she had played at being if just for one night. The tale was hardly over, falling in love with a girl brought back from the dead not once, but twice. She even had her very own Hercules out there somewhere, and her stomach twisted at thinking of what trials he would have to face before he took the mantle of Sentinel X over his shoulders.

"I hate time travel." Monet cursed, holding Jubilee tight to her and crying against her shoulder.

"I don't." Jubilee whispered, kissing Monet against her cheek, her shoulder, and longing for her lips.

"You don't?! He's just a boy and I probably set him right back down that path you saw, the one where you died!" Monet shrieked with tear stained cheeks.

Seizing the lips she longed for, Jubilee silenced the girl she remembered and the woman she was falling in love with. Monet was brilliant, beautiful, a veritable goddess incarnate. But she could really be stupid when she wanted to be.

"Time travel gave us Cable and Rachel, it gave us Bishop. Kymera stayed behind just so she could make sure her best friend didn't have to get hurt like that again, so we didn't have to heal through whatever the Future did to us. I'll take all the second chances I can get, because we've all had enough bad done to us that we've wanted a mulligan."

Laughter, loud and hearty and heartfelt carried into the night. Monet looked down on Jubilee with tears in her eyes and a smile upon her lips, a smile within her heart.

"Since when do you golf?"

"I don't, I just like showing up stuffy rich dudes at the driving range."

That Jubilee could still smile after everything she had been through was the only wonder Monet had left in life. She was life itself, kicked down and beaten and burned only to get back up and try again. She was an orphan who found her own, and just like those who had taken her into their hearts she would raise Shogo with all the love she had been blessed with.

"I never wanted to be an X-man." Monet confessed, it was the last she had even if she had said it once before, her soul utterly bear before Jubilee.

"I hear the Avengers are always hiring."

She was used to Jubilee running her mouth by now, she always had to have the last word. So she let her, kissing her again and feeling the passion returned. They had both lost the ones they had loved before they could have done anything more than play through childish crushes, but that didn't mean they had to close their hearts to the chance all together.

"You owe me a dance." Monet whispered, nuzzling her nose against Jubilee's ear.

"Well you owe me a date Miss '_I love you Jubes_'." Jubilee teased with her tongue stuck out in a childish gesture.

They had a babysitter in Shogo's Sissy and an invitation to the kind of event that only Tony Stark could throw. Snatching her Jubilation up in her arms, Monet would make the most of the Hallowed Eve.

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	3. Chapter 3

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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"Five pieces."

Shogo looked up from the pile of candy to his big Sissy, counting like he'd been taught just to be sure...

"One, two, three..." Shogo mumbled, folding his fingers along the way.

"Four, five." Kymera joined in on the counting game she remembered from her own childhood, wiggling her pinky and ring finger to the boy who had once been her best friend, now her baby brother.

In his frown she saw that he was as every bit as good at math as she remembered him to be, better than his Mommy who tried to help him with his homework until it became Shogo teaching her all the hard stuff he learned in school. There were a lot more than five pieces of candy in the pile that he had to pick from, and he didn't like it one bit.

"Ten!" Shogo shouted, holding out both hands at his big Sissy.

"Five."

"Six?"

Reaching out with her pinky, a promise was made between them that he had only picked five, even if she'd let him have an extra piece. The bargaining was the easy part, now she had to help him pick just what he was allowed to have with the movie Halloween promised.

"May I have this one Shogo?" Kymera asked, remembering her manners taught to her by her mother.

"Ew."

Even as she laughed it just hurt a little, seeing her friend sitting across from her just as she remembered him. Much younger yes, but he always hated the hard little orange wrapped molasses kisses, he'd trade five for just one candy bar, and ten for a bag of chips. Her first Halloween with Shogo had been a special time, watching mother and son bond after everything the Future had done to them all.

"Six?" Shogo asked, holding up all his favourites but numbering seven.

"One, two, three..." Kymera started counting.

"...six, seven." Shogo finished, looking grumpy as he considered his candies again.

He wasn't fooling anyone, he was still bargaining after the fact. She just wanted to make sure he had his numbers down pat. Holding a finger up to her lips, it would be their little secret, Mommy didn't have to know he had two extra pieces with his movie.

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"You're not Twenty Two."

"Uh, chronologically speaking? Yes I am."

"Physically?"

This was the part Jubilee loved, pointing out to a special little part of her ID that a lot of people didn't know to look for. The world was getting used to mutants, meta-humans and in her case, monsters. That wasn't to say everything was lovey dovey, but at the end of the day there were only two absolutes, death and taxes, and the tax man didn't like loop holes because some people were giving Death a run for her money.

"Deceased? Wait a minute...you're not some kind of zombie are you?" The bartender asked looking completely confused.

"Ew, god no, do I look like I'm rotting? And actually, physically speaking I'm seventeen and three quarters. Fucker that turned me could totally have waited 'till after my eighteenth, but did he? No!"

"Turned? You mean...?"

It might as well be the official sign for vampire as he held up two curled fingers and made a face pretending them to be fangs.

"Yep, and toothpicks make me nervous. So I'm just going to move these right over there..."

"I'll have what she's having, and make it a double."

If the bartender had been confused, now he was flabbergasted, and just maybe a little star struck. Tony Stark had that effect on people, and she had him in her contacts. Coolest. Mommy. Ever.

"Scotch, neat, eighteen years and not a day younger." Jubilee purred, grinning up at the man of the hour, petite fangs and all.

"Stop that, it's both creepy and adorable."

"I can't help it if I called it, I told you she'd punch you through a wall."

"It was off a balcony if you must know, and I was waiting for her."

Hipster Sentinel X was so underground that most people thought Tony was sick of Hot Rod Red and Gold. They also had been wondering if he hadn't been a little drunk, but the huge wide rimmed glasses had sold the costume to those in the know. Except for Monet, to her that had been the last straw or so it seemed.

"She caught you right?" Jubilee asked, melting in bliss as she enjoyed her first sip of her Scotch.

"You're saying you think she needed to catch me? Thank you for that, now I feel positively emasculated."

"Knowledge at a glance, she's kinda tactical that way, like a nuke. Even she's surprised when something ain't pulp after she gets pissed."

"A Tactical Thor? I am both intrigued and terrified, don't let her touch Mjolnir."

"You're telling me even _she_ leaves _it_ laying around?"

_It_, Mjolnir, Thor's Hammer. Only those worthy of its power could wield _It_, and for the longest while nobody really took that to mean it was actually just a pissing match, not until Sexy Thor became a thing.

"I never said that, I just said not to let Monet touch _it_."

Putting back her drink in an uncharacteristic hurry, Scotch was something to be enjoyed slowly, she didn't rush Scotch. Except if she had to go find her date and make sure Monet didn't touch _it_, she wasn't about to let a hammer field more bases than her.

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"Tony thinks you're worthy, actually he's kind of worried you're worthy."

Dancing with her Jubilation, Monet fought against the urge just snatch one of of the thoughts floating out there for the taking. It was an intimacy she wasn't accustomed to, not from those who knew her, leaving themselves bare to her curiosity...of which she was voracious.

"I didn't know his approval meant so much to you." Monet teased, playing at being haughty if not a bit above all the gossip.

"Hey, if I get a Like from Tony Stark about my relationship with you, Shogo is gonna start calling you Mommy."

The music continued, the world danced around them, but standing there amidst the crowded floor...Monet felt herself frozen and enthralled by the eyes that held her gaze. Jubilee looked up to her with a smile, her chin nestled in the crook of the cheap revealing plastic armour that was hardly any protection at all.

All the carefully crafted walls covered in a graffiti of snark and quick jokes fell to ruin, leaving herself exposed and vulnerable to any telepath the world over. This wasn't her Jubilation...except that it really and truly was, lost in her eyes as she looked down on her and only because she was taller.

"I think you're supposed to lead." Jubilee whispered, taking a delicate step once, then twice.

Holding the woman she loved close, Monet danced with her, danced as she had danced with her own father all the years before when her family had been the fairytale it should have always been. Any misstep would have been her own, her Jubilation standing on her toes and not even the slightest bit of a burden.

"You really think so?" Monet asked, her voice a trembling mess as she surrendered to her tears.

"All Mommy has to say is I love you, you know that silly." Jubilee whispered, her head resting close.

"I love you Jubes." Monet cooed, finding the strength to say it again.

"And my little man too."

The tears couldn't be stopped now and she didn't care, only in the light of a Halloween past did it all make sense. Shogo had been the Tin Man, and Sylvester the Cowardly Lion, Kymera the Scarecrow and Jubilation Dorthy herself. Playing the Wicked Witch with a hawk instead of monkeys, Monet had hammed up the role for some trick or treating.

"There's no place like home."

Together they clicked their heels, the hour was getting late and they missed their family.

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	4. Chapter 4

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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"Yeah, same guy. I can smell him everywhere. You know I hate this more than Misting right?"

"I wouldn't ask you to do this if I hadn't run out of leads."

Blood could tell a story, writ in splatter and authored by DNA, but that took time and time was something Detective Shapandar didn't have much of. That meant reaching out to assets she wasn't afraid to use, making phone calls to powerful people to get the authorization needed for something unorthodox.

The crime scene was fresh, arriving too late to stop another murder that now had the victims numbering three. Karima didn't want the man's death to go unpunished, she wanted to make sense out of the senseless. So she called in someone who the blood spoke to, the only vampire in the world she trusted, Jubilation Lee.

"Oh I am so forcing you over for dinner just so you can see how big Shogo's gotten." Jubilee muttered, leaning in to lick at the cold, dead blood.

Karima once had called herself an X-man, she owed them her life. But now she was working with someone who had followed her back to her old calling as a cop, making her proud with how quickly he rose though the ranks. Jonothon Starsmore never had it easy, and she wasn't making it any easier on him but she knew he could take it.

Nothing gained from telepathy was admissible as evidence, but that wasn't to say it couldn't be used in other ways, that was just the kind of detective work that kept people alive. Everything after that was for the lawyers and judges, and just maybe internal affairs if they got a whiff of anything they didn't like.

"Move, move, move!" Jubilee yelled, rushing away from the crime scene and past the yellow tape.

Detective Starsmore looked like he wanted to be sick himself, but there was a joke that had followed him up the ladder, he didn't have the guts.

_I'll get with the sketch artist. _Jono announced, his voice a whisper that was an afterthought that carried the dark feelings he suffered after seeing what Jubilee had witnessed in the blood.

Beat cops were holding the media and gawkers back, but the show was already happening and getting streamed live in full HD. It was out there for every news site or blog, Jubilation Lee puking her guts out against the cracked pavement. Stalking out into the crowd, Karima laid down her last trump card she'd been given the green light to use.

"We know you're watching, you've kept ahead of us every step because of the spotlight we're under. Except now we know what you look like and soon so will everyone else, social media cuts both ways. I've been given authorization to relay to you our offer. You have the next twelve hours to turn yourself in, after that this case will be turned over to the Ghost Rider."

Somewhere out in the City that Never Sleeps there was a scared girl from Jersey made an orphan by a real monster. They wanted her back safe and sound, and if they couldn't catch the one responsible for her suffering, then Hell could have them.

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_Latte?_

"Pumpkin Spice?"

_Tis the season._

"Yum."

Ruffling her hair, Jono leaned against his car and watched the world move around them. They were both on edge after seeing everything that happened to the poor man whose Earthly remains were being taken off by dour men in suits. They were wound tight and ready to go, except the city was too big and they didn't have a trail even with how fresh the scene was. It all came down to a gamble that the Ghost Rider was a big enough boogeyman to have their perp not add anymore sins for the Spirit of Vengeance to judge.

"I like it better when all I gotta do is flash my fangs and bad men piss their pants." Jubilee mumbled after a sip of her latte.

_You and me both luv._

Glancing at the very same girl he knew from all the years back when he'd been a moody broody boy himself, Jubilee was like a cat when it came to warm spots, enjoying the heat from his cooling engine as she sat sipping her latte.

_How's Monet?_

Rumour had it they were dating, and just maybe some part of himself wondered what it would have been for them to realize that all the years before, hindsight seeing the girls mistaking attraction and sexual tension for their infamous rivalry that had them come to blows enough times.

"She's good. Actually we have our official second date planned for tomorrow...or today, shit. Mommy needs a nap when she gets home."

_You need a babysitter?_

"Mommy _always_ needs a babysitter, but tonight Big Sissy Kymera will be watching her little bro. Of course if Uncle Jono wants to stop by for a visit he's always welcome."

Long ago he found out a smile wasn't something that just went skin deep, it found its way into the eyes and warmed his soul. Smiling for her and reaching out with his voice to say something without words, he shared that bit of warmth he always felt touch his heart whenever he was called Uncle Jono. They were big shoes to fill, made all the bigger because some mates couldn't be there to try them on.

"I'm sure you got some stories for my little man about his Uncles Ange and Ev that I don't know."

Reaching out and dragging her across his hood without a care for the paint job, it was a hug they both needed, made all the more tender because a moments rapport stubbornly wouldn't close between them. Sometimes want and need were too strong for a telepath, it hurt too much to let go and be alone again inside their own skull. Her kiss at his brow was all the invitation he needed to hold on just a little longer, embracing the intimacy born between friends who knew too many embarrassing stories about each other.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Detective Shapandar wanted me to let you know the kid's safe. Our perp turned himself in."

Feeling one another's relief after hearing the good news, the hug became desperate as they fought to keep the other from buckling under the burden of first hand knowledge. A little girl wasn't going home tonight, nor would she ever see her parents again.

_Mommy needs her nap._

Snatching Jubilee into his arms and carrying her off to the back seat of his car, a police escort home was the least he owed her after helping with the case. And if no one was awake, then he'd tuck her in himself and wait out the dawn until the rest of her family was there for her.

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"...just saying are we going to start sending the Ghost Rider in every time some kid goes missing? That's why we have the police, the same police who..."

"If I can interrupt you, this wasn't just a kidnapping. Her parents were murdered along with an innocent bystander."

"I'm still not buying the slashing in the alley, it sounds like the police were reaching just so they could use it as an excuse to send in their attack dog along with a message."

"That's the kind of message I could stand to see more often! As for the alley slashing, it was confirmed by an expert!"

"What kind of expert is a vampire!?"

Turning off the television as she felt the object of her affection wake from her nap, Monet snatched up the nearest book in an attempt to mask her concern. Stepping out of her room looking like any groggy teenager, Jubilee stumbled to the kitchen to browse their selection of coffees and teas they had for the Tassimo.

"Uncle Jono took Shogo to the park." Monet remarked without a glance to the kitchen.

With chai tea in the air Jubilee settled down on the sofa opposite of Monet, playing an impromptu game of footsie as she got comfortable. The quiet could only last for so long, enjoying it until Jubilee reached for the remote.

"There's nothing good on." Monet said as she held the remote hostage.

Jubilee glared at her from under a stubborn furrow of her brows. Monet would have found it cute if she wasn't trying to keep her away from the days news. Unfortunately the news was everywhere, from phone to laptop to the tablet Shogo had his learning games on.

"The court of public opinion is deciding whether to promote or fire Detective Shapandar, though everyone seems to be in agreement that they're just glad the killer has turned himself in and that a little girl is safe. Unfortunately the more sensational or gratuitous...well, you were there after all."

"Just tell me Shogo didn't see anything..." Jubilee whimpered.

Crawling across the couch to pull her vulnerable vampire onto her lap, Monet hugged her and held her close.

"Of course not."

"My hero."

Rewarded with a kiss from her damsel in distress, Monet turned the television on so they could watch the news together. It used to be a more pleasant game they played long before any real feelings had been confessed, looking for stories about Jubilee's nightly escapades in the Big Apple.

"Maybe Jono was the smart one." Jubilee mumbled quietly.

"It's not as if you're some vigilante Jubilation."

"Duh, I stick around until the cops come."

Running her fingers through Jubilee's sleep mussed hair, Monet wouldn't have her being untrue to herself or ever forget all the good she did.

"I should call Ghostie and see how he's doing. If anyone knows about not asking for a dose of supernatural in their life it's me. Worst. Traffic Stop. Ever."

And that right there had Monet fall in love with her Jubilation all over again, had her heart ache from her hope that their dates might lead to something more.

"Breakfast first. I shan't reveal my sources, but Elk is on the menu."

"Ooo, been a while since I've had Elk. Now I know you're spoiling me."

The news was forgotten, all the same stories told a thousand times over as they happened anew which was the true crime. Weather and traffic were just the punctuation that said it was safe to look away, for everyone to get back into the routine that kept the world spinning from sunrise to sunset. And so Monet made breakfast even as she looked forward to dinner with her date.

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